Tools harness power of APU

AMD has announced software development tools and solutions to enable developers to optimise their applications for OpenCL standards. It claims these advanced tools create a foundation for software companies to realise the full potential of the AMD Fusion Family of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), harnessing the compute power of the heterogeneous computing platforms.

It should enable developers to deliver HD video, 3D gaming, video conferencing and intuitive user interfaces, to differentiate applications in the market.

Among the new offerings is the gDEBugger product, which was created by experts from AMD’s new Israeli research center, based on AMD’s acquisition of startup company Graphic Remedy in October 2010. gDEBugger is an advanced OpenCL and OpenGL debugger, profiler and memory analyser.

The new AMD gDEBugger release provides developers with the ability to debug OpenCL kernels, running on AMD GPUs, and step through their source code while examining kernel variables and data. This product, which is a plug-in designed to work with Microsoft Visual Studio, includes all of gDEBugger’s previous features and capabilities. Additional developer solutions include a Parallel Path Analyser (PPA), Global Memory for Accelerators (GMAC) and Task Manager tools, which are being developed by Multicoreware in collaboration with AMD.

These new tools and solutions, expected to be available in Beta during Q3, expand AMD’s line of developer solutions that are publicly available on the AMD Developer Central website, including software development kits, libraries, compilers, webinars and educational support.